Outcast
by DezoPenguin
Summary: A mother's plea leads Subaru into the case of a missing girl, caught in a race to death with a street gang and the yakuza.
1. Chapter 1

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: Unlike the other Tokyo Babylon fics I've posted here on this one is brand new. I've retained the use of honorifics, since it's so much a part of the character of the three protagonists._

"That was such a great show!" Hokuto Sumeragi gushed as she walked through the front door of her apartment building. "Thank you so much for taking us, Sei-chan!"

Seishiro Sakurazuka smiled modestly while he held the door open for the Sumeragis.

"It was nothing, really. Subaru-kun has been working so hard lately; I thought he deserved a treat."

"A-ha!" Hokuto exclaimed. In honor of the musical they had just seen, she was wearing a frothy white shirt over a black leotard, along with tuxedo coat, bow tie, sheer black stockings, high-heeled pumps, satin-lined opera cape, and top hat. Just the thing for a production of _The Phantom of the Opera_. Hokuto's love for her fancy-dress wardrobe, which she designed and made herself, was perfectly in keeping with her outgoing, even flamboyant personality. Subaru's gentle nature often led him to be turned into her model, a kind of dress-up doll for his sister's creations, which left Seishiro the odd man out in his neatly pressed suit.

Then again, Seishiro was a professional man, a veterinarian, while the twins were sixteen-year-old teenagers nine years younger than their companion.

"Admit it!" Hokuto challenged Seishiro, wagging her finger at him. "This was going to be a date, but you were too shy to ask Subaru out without inviting me along as well, right, Sei-chan? Faint heart never won fair Subaru," she chided.

"Hokuto-san, people are listening!" Subaru protested, terribly embarrassed. His sister and Seishiro teased him far too much about the supposed relationship between the two males, causing Subaru a great deal of unease.

Especially since Subaru himself wasn't sure of his real feelings.

"Oh, Subaru, you're _hopeless_," Hokuto threw up her arms in temporary defeat. "How can the thirteenth head of the Sumeragi clan--Japan's most important family of onmyouji--be so passive?"

Seishiro let the door swing shut behind them.

"Come now, Hokuto-chan, you know that Subaru-kun's gentleness makes him all the more special to us," he said.

Of course, Hokuto had to admit that Seishiro was right; she loved her brother more than anyone else in the world. Sometimes, though, his shy, kind nature got on her nerves.

It was, she thought, Subaru's greatest weakness.

And, perhaps, his greatest strength.

They took the elevator upstairs. In the hall that led to the Sumeragis' apartments there were benches for waiting. On one a woman was half-sprawled, apparently asleep, her head lolling against her shoulder.

She was only sleeping lightly if at all, though; the scrape of Subaru's key in the lock caused her to wake and jerk upright.

"Oh! Please forgive me." Then, she saw which door the three friends were standing at. "Um...are you Subaru Sumeragi?" she asked Seishiro.

Hokuto giggled.

"I'm afraid not," Seishiro replied, "but he is." He indicated Subaru.

"May I help you, ma'am?" Subaru asked.

"Oh! I'm...I'm sorry, Sumeragi-san. It's just that I was expecting a much older man."

She herself was in her early forties, not particularly beautiful and showing signs of premature age. Dark circles under her eyes highlighted the taut, worried mien that gripped not just her face but her entire body.

"Everyone does," Hokuto confided. "They expect the head of the Sumeragi clan to be an old guru, the 'ancient master' from bad films. Instead they get a young genius--the second-worst cliche!"

"Hokuto-chan!"

"Why not invite this lady in for a cup of tea, Subaru-kun?" Seishiro smoothly suggested. "She's clearly exhausted; that way she can relax for a bit while she tells us what she needs." He turned his most charming smile on the woman and asked, "Would that be all right with you, ma'am?"

"Y-yes, thank you."

Hokuto commandeered the kitchen while Subaru showed the woman to the couch. Seishiro sat beside her while Subaru took the seat facing them.

"Subaru, where did you put the tea?" Hokuto called.

"It's in the upper left cabinet."

"Really, Subaru, every time I get your kitchen set up so that I know where everything is, you go and move things," she groused.

The woman smiled at the byplay. Even inadvertently, Hokuto was excellent at cutting through people's downcast moods.

"That's my sister, Hokuto," Subaru introduced her, "and this is Seishiro Sakurazuka."

"It's nice to meet you all. My name is Meiling Chiang, and I need you to find my daughter."

"To..." Subaru repeated, surprised. He had never been asked to find a missing person.

"My daughter Emiko ran away from home this morning. I...I thought that she was just angry, that she'd come back after school, but she's really gone!"

Subaru was stunned; this was a completely new experience. Although he had become involved in criminal investigations before, it wasn't really his area of expertise. Magic and spirits were what he knew, not combing the streets of Tokyo, asking questions. When he looked at Meiling's tension-strained face, though, he couldn't find it in himself to say so.

Hokuto leaned around the corner, a curious expression on her face.

"Why did you come to Subaru, Mrs. Chiang?" she asked. "Wouldn't this be a job for the police?"

"Emiko hasn't been gone for long enough to be considered 'missing' by the law. To the police, she isn't missing, just...late." She looked down at her hands, avoiding everyone's gaze, and spoke in a very small voice, "And it...it isn't 'Mrs.,' Hokuto-san."

"That must be very hard for you," Subaru said. "People can be very cruel."

"It was hard for Emiko, too," she replied. "Adults are cold and disapproving, but children are far, far worse."

Hokuto nodded in agreement.

"Young people haven't yet learned to moderate their feelings, good or bad."

"They haven't truly become part of society yet," Seishiro added, "so they make up their own groups, usually with much more rigid rules. Plus, being in a position of weakness compared to adults, their fears and hence their hatreds are much stronger."

There were tears in Meiling's eyes. Her pain was a raw, tangible presence in the apartment, and Subaru couldn't help but wonder what the two of them had suffered, the unwed mother from a foreign country and the girl, at least half-Chinese and with no father.

"I'll help you," he said impulsively.

"I'm...I'm afraid that I can't pay you very much."

Subaru shook his head.

"No, no, that's not necessary, Meiling-san," he quickly assured her.

"Really?" she asked, hope dawning in her eyes.

"Subaru-kun is like that," Seishiro said. "He can't stand to see someone in trouble and pass them by."

"Can you tell me the entire story?"

The Chinese woman had just opened her mouth when Hokuto interrupted.

"Oh! Wait a moment; the tea's ready." She dashed back into the kitchen, and the clink and clatter of dishes sounded like it was coming from behind the corner of an all-night noodle house. In mere seconds she emerged bearing the teapot and four cups on a tray, greeted by three stunned faces. Hokuto blinked, confused.

"What?"

Seishiro smoothly rose, took the tray from her, and set it down on the side table, where he deftly poured for each of them. He served Meiling first; she wrapped her hands around the cup and inhaled the fragrant steam rising from it.

"Your hands are cold," he said, resuming his seat. Hokuto perched on the corner of the table.

"I'm afraid...that I've been very worried," Meiling replied softly.

"Talking about it can help, sometimes," Hokuto suggested. "I think one of the things that's wrong with us is that we hold things inside."

Meiling nodded.

"You're right, Hokuto-san. I...I want you to understand everything." She sipped at her tea, examining the faces of the three friends carefully, then clicked her fingernails against the cup pensively.

"Can I trust you?" she asked Subaru, her voice taut.

"Yes," he said earnestly, then added honestly, "At least, I'll try to live up to your trust."

"That's more than most people have been willing to do for me," Meiling said wryly. She set her teacup down, sighed once, and began her story.

"I was born in a small village in China," she told them. "There was nothing ahead of me but a life of hard labor, without any chance for advancement, for an education...without hope."

"So you decided to leave," Hokuto said.

"Yes. I fled my village and went to Shanghai, where I found a smuggler who could take me to Japan. I didn't even care where I went; here, America, Europe, Canada...it was all the same, out of China, to a place where I could find opportunity."

Meiling sighed again.

"Unfortunately, I found that opportunity isn't something handed out to everyone. The only work I could find was serving in a sweatshop in Yokohama's Chinatown, and that wouldn't be enough to pay the smuggler the second half of his fee. So...I did what so many women fall back on when they can't make ends meet in any other way. I became a 'comfort girl,' selling my body to anyone who would have me." She looked up at Subaru. "I know I may not look it, but once I was pretty. Not so beautiful as you--"

Subaru blushed.

"--but able to catch a man's eye all the same. It wasn't pleasant work, but it let me keep up the payments, and my freedom. Too, it put me into a position to attract one of my...clients...into a more permanent relationship. Not marriage, of course, but he set me up in a nice room, gave me expensive clothes and jewelry. It wasn't the life I had hoped for, but it was better than the one I left behind, until..."

"Until you became pregnant," Seishiro deduced.

"That's right. My patron had a wife and family, and he didn't want to deal with another child, so he threw me over, turned me out. I had saved my money, though, so I was able to survive. When my baby came, when I first saw Emiko, I loved her like nothing I'd ever loved before," she said wistfully. "I swore then and there that I'd make something of myself, for her sake. I worked at anything and everything--cook, store clerk, seamstress, often two or three part-time jobs at once. When I wasn't working, I studied; I learned a real trade, bookkeeping, in the hope of getting a decent job."

"That must have taken a lot of courage," Subaru said, impressed. Few people could make a new start with their lives as adults, especially in the face of prejudice, economic pressure, and family responsibility.

"I don't know about that," Meiling replied, "but it did take time, too much time. A little girl growing up needs a mother who can be with her, to love her, to show her how wonderful and special a person she is. Instead, Emiko grew up with a woman who wasn't around most of the time, who was always exhausted even when she was there. The fact that at school, she would constantly be teased and bullied didn't help." Tears glittered in her eyes. "She needed love and support from me, and I was too busy just trying to give her a decent life."

Meiling hung her head, and Subaru felt a cold wrench in his heart, sensing the lady's pain, and worse, the utter hopelessness of it all.

"Three years ago, I was finally able to get that bookkeeping job--finally able to spend time with Emiko--but it was too late. She'd grown hard and resentful, after all the years she hadn't had a real mother. She wouldn't listed to me; I think sometimes she took pleasure in doing the opposite of what I hoped for her just because it hurt me. We fought all the time...I...I don't blame her for that, you have to understand. When she was a little girl, the only time she could be sure of getting my attention was by misbehaving, getting into trouble."

"How old is your daughter now, Chiang-san?" Hokuto asked.

"She's sixteen, just last month."

"Our age," Hokuto said softly.

Subaru laced his gloved fingers together.

"Do you know why she ran away?"

Meiling nodded. She pushed her hair back off her face, then took another drink of tea.

"Yesterday, Emiko announced that she was going to drop out of school. She's always been a good student, Sumeragi-san; she was sure to pass the college examinations and become a success, live the kind of life I dreamed of when I was still in my home village."

Subaru could picture it, a lonely girl with few friends, concentrating more and more on her books as she drew within herself, all the while wondering what it was for.

"We had a horrible fight over it, both of us crying and screaming at one another, until the neighbors were forced to complain over how loud we were being. Nothing was resolved; we just went off and worried and sulked. The next morning we barely spoke to each other over breakfast, and when I went off to work, I thought there would be another fight when Emiko and I got home." A shudder ran through her. "Instead, when I got to work, I found that some of the documents I had taken home to work on were missing, and when I came back home, Emiko was gone!"

"She had packed a bag, taken some of her clothes and a few personal things, and left me a note, telling me...telling me that she couldn't stand living at home any more...that she was going to make her own way from now on. She had stolen the records out of my briefcase because she knew they were valuable, could finance her life alone."

There was something different in her expression when she talked about the stolen documents. All the rest of the time she had been worried, sad, even scared, but now there was a hunted expression in her eyes, fear that seemed to be about herself, not just her daughter.

"Who would Emiko-san try to sell the records to?" Seishiro asked. "Knowing that would be the easiest way to find her."

"I'm not completely sure...but she's been hanging around with a gang lately, a group of punks that call themselves...oh, what _was_ it?" Meiling cursed with frustration, then dredged the name from her memory. "The Fire Ronin."

"How could they help her with business papers?" Subaru wondered, trying to connect street crime and corporate finance in his mind. Seishiro, judging from his serious expression, seemed to know already, but then, he often understood things that Subaru missed.

"It's..." Meiling began, then stopped and started over. "The people I work for...they're not a business, at least not in the ordinary sense of the word."

"You mean...?" Hokuto said.

"They're gangsters, yakuza." Her face twisted wryly. "I should have known better when they hired me. I'm an illegal alien; probably, they found that out and considered it an extra benefit. I could never go to the police to expose them."

Subaru realized that this hadn't been part of her reasoning when she had mentioned why she hadn't gone to the police about Emiko. It wasn't a coincidence, he felt. Meiling wouldn't have minded being deported if it was to protect her daughter.

"So, Emiko-chan has to be found before these yakuza learn she had the papers," Hokuto concluded.

"That would be true," Seishiro said softly, "except they already know, don't they, Meiling-san?"

"Sei-chan, how could you know that?"

He didn't answer Hokuto, but turned to the Chinese woman, who sat trembling on the sofa beside him.

"The yakuza found that you didn't return the records today," he said. "They came to your home, they found your daughter's note. They're already going after her even now; they may even know where to start. You sensed that Subaru was someone who might help her, so you came here. That's why you can't leave yet."

"Seishiro-san..." Subaru whispered, understanding. "Meiling-san, I promise that I will find her."

Meiling smiled, a real, genuine smile that shone with relief. In that instant, her outline began to fade, shimmering away into tiny sparkling lights, and then she was gone.

Hokuto stared, open-mouthed.

"What--?"

"Those gangsters--they probably killed her," Subaru said, clenching his fist. "That's why she came here, not to the police or a private detective."

"Subaru..."

"So...I have to find her daughter."

Seishiro rose, coming over to Subaru's side and laying his hand on the young onmyouji's shoulder.

"I will help you."

"Seishiro-san..."

Subaru looked up at the older man, who gave him a dazzling smile, full of warmth.

"The people you will deal with are very dangerous." He grazed the edge of Subaru's cheek with the back of his fingers, a gentle caress. "I won't allow them to hurt my Subaru-kun."


	2. Chapter 2

The city of Tokyo was a glittering testament to the drive and energy of the Japanese, a shining jewel of glass and steel that showed just what humanity, working as one, could achieve. That wasn't all there was to Tokyo, though. The shadows cast by Tokyo Tower, Sunshine 60, and the Tokyo Government Office were as huge as the buildings themselves and in those shadows were poverty, crime, greed, and above all desperation.

Caught firmly in one of those shadows was a dark alley between hastily built tenements and shops. The rain that had fallen intermittently throughout the day had made the pavement wet and slick; the water shone eerily in the glow of the bare light bulb that marked the back door of a cheap bar.

Standing in the alley, near enough to the bar that the light played across their features, were six people, four male and two female, none of them older than eighteen. Their clothes varied, but each of them had a common feature: a red bandanna around his or her forehead and another around the right bicep. These were the gang colors of the Fire Ronin.

The oldest and tallest of them, a hard-faced kid with spiky hair, was grinning harshly as he walked up to the others.

"Well, people, it looks like little Emi-chan's come through for us, and how!"

A slender, handsome ganger leaning against the wall folded his arms across his chest.

"What did Igarashi-sama have to say, Ken?"

"He wants those records. Says they'll let him take some mondo biz away from the Hironaga-gumi."

"Somehow, I doubt that Igarashi-sama used the phrase, 'mondo biz.'"

Ken snarled.

"Keep that wise-ass tongue in your mouth, Shun. Just 'cause this was your idea doesn't make you the leader here."

Shun yawned. Ken was, nominally, the leader of the Fire Ronin because he was the toughest and because he was bright enough to keep his yakuza contacts to himself, but nonetheless it was Shun who did most of the planning and thinking. As for the rest, Eiji was just a kid, while Hiro and Misato were greedy rather than ambitious.

Emiko, now, wasn't difficult to place anyway. A slight girl whose white-powdered face and red lips didn't go with her halter top, black jeans, and leather jacket, she was grinning like a younger child on holiday. Emi-chan, Shun judged, wanted to be tough and hard-edged but couldn't get past the fact that she really only wanted to be loved. In other words, a born victim. With a few hard knocks, she might develop the viciousness that would make her dangerous, but it wasn't likely.

"You did good, girl," Ken said, slapping his hand down on Emiko's shoulder. "Those records you swiped are gonna get us five hundred thousand yen."

The grin on Emiko's ruby-painted lips grew wider.

"Not to mention," Shun added, "that it will win us a very good reputation with the Igarashi-gumi, which may be even more important."

The difference between being just a gang of punks and making a successful life on the wrong side of Japanese society was in making the right connections. The yakuza might have been outcasts, but they were outcasts with power, wealth, and influence that the rest of society couldn't ignore or escape even if they wanted to. Without the link to the Igarashi clan, the Fire Ronin would wind up in jail or dead on a garbage heap somewhere, sooner or later. With it, they could be...someone.

"Good enough to be one of you--without that 'trial basis' crap?" She tried to say it with something resembling Shun's nonchalance, but failed to keep the eagerness--the _hope_--out of her voice.

"We'll see how the meeting goes down tonight. All goes well, then you're in," Ken declared. "C'mon," he beckoned to the group. "This alley ain't so pretty I want to spend my life here."

Shun trailed behind as the others left, tapping Emiko lightly on the arm to get her attention.

"No second thoughts, Emi-chan?" he asked softly.

"None," she said, shaking her head. "It isn't like I'm leaving anything behind me."

"Some might disagree."

Emiko waved the sentiment aside.

"It doesn't matter now. I've burned my bridges. Swiping that stuff from Mother, that was the final step. Now she'll never take me back, even if I was dumb enough to want it."

As they stepped out into the street, the glow of a neon sign made her powdered face gleam a ghastly chartreuse.

"Even if you were dumb enough," Shun repeated quietly, then shook his head.

-X X X-

Detective Kono of the Tokyo police department was a short, big-bodied man. He was a bit overweight, a characteristic that had grown with him as he neared middle age, but most of his size was solid muscle. His build, his less than beautiful features, and his deep, gruff voice made him a caricature of the blunt-spoken, hard-nosed cop. In reality, though, he was a man of surprising sensitivity and openmindedness, a creative thinker instead of a bulldog logician.

He was filling a styrofoam cup with coffee when Amano, a young officer in the detective division, shouted out to him across the squad room.

"Kono-san! You've got a call."

"Yeah, I got it!"

"It's some kid named Sumeragi."

"Oh?"

Kono went back to his desk and took the phone from Amano.

"Subaru-kun? Is that you?"

"Good evening, Kono-san."

Subaru and Kono's paths had crossed during the investigation of a serial killer who had preyed on subway riders, a case in which the two of them had formed a liking for one another.

"I don't suppose this is a social call. What's happened?"

"I'm looking for a missing girl. Her mother was murdered this afternoon."

Kono sat down, a frown stealing over his face.

"A murder case? Can I have the details?"

"Her name was Meiling Chiang. She worked as a bookkeeper for a yakuza operation; they killed her because her daughter ran away and took some important records."

The detective whistled.

"That's bad. That case sounds familiar, though, Subaru-kun. I think..." He shuffled some papers. "Yes, here it is. A stabbing death. They've been investigating the crime-of-passion angle; I don't think anyone cross-checked the name of the business she worked for with known organized crime associations. How did you find out about it?"

"I'm not sure that you want to know," Subaru said quietly.

Kono thought it over for a moment.

"Subaru-kun," he replied slowly, "you know that I'm aware of your reputation as an onmyouji, and that there are things you can learn that the majority of people are unable to. So, just tell me if that has something to do with it, and we'll overlook whether, legally speaking, it's reasonable grounds for me to act."

"You are right, Kono-san. I'm...I'm worried about the girl."

"You should be," Kono concluded glumly. "If the yakuza would kjill her mother because the records were missing, then they would certainly kill her too, in order to get them back. I'm sure the organized crime section of the force would be glad to help look for her, though, even if she's not a missing person officially. Whatever she took could be valuable evidence, not to mention the murder angle." He paused, then added, "Thank you for the information, Subaru-kun. Was there something you wanted to learn?"

"Emiko-san was seen with a youth gang before she ran away. I thought she might have gone to them, and hoped you might know something about them."

"It's possible. We try to keep files on most gangs, though we can't help but be a bit behind the latest developments. What do you know about the gang?"

"Their name is the Fire Ronin."

"All right; hold on."

Kono balanced the phone between his chin and shoulder while his fingers began to play across his computer keyboard. It didn't take long to access the juvenile crimes division's files on the Fire Ronin.

"I've got them, Subaru-kun. A small group, mostly involved in petty theft and vandalism, but rumor has it they've occasionally run errands--courier stuff, small-time legbreaking, that sort of job--for the Igarashi-gumi, a small yakuza clan. Say, I don't suppose that's the same family the girl's mother worked for?"

"I'm not sure."

Kono grunted.

"It's easy enough to check. I wonder which way would be more trouble, having one clan to deal with or two? Anyway, according to the files, the Fire Ronin are supposed to have a hangout at an abandoned factory." He gave Subaru the address.

"Thank you, Kono-san."

"Don't mention it. Just promise me, if you come across anything, for example the stolen papers, that could be evidence in the murder case, you'll let the police know."

"I'll try."

"Thank you. If I learn anything else, is there a way I can contact you?"

"Well, I have a pager..." Subaru's voice broke off, as if he was talking to someone else or looking for something. A moment later he came back on. "My friend Seishiro-san has a cell phone. He said to tell you that you could reach me through him."

Kono had only a vague mental image of Seishiro gleamed from the very end of the last case, but he did remember thinking that the two of them had been more than friends. Well, perhaps Subaru was just discreet, or the relationship wasn't what the detective had assumed. He copied down the number Subaru gave him.

"All right, then. Good luck, Subaru-kun."

"Thank you, Detective. Good-bye."

-X X X-

The Toyota was a sleek black sedan that slid through the shining lights and steel towers of the city. There were three men in the car. The driver wore a cheap suit and under that suit was an automatic pistol in a shoulder holster. The man in the front passenger seat was as much of a thug in his heart, but he possessed skill and talent, with something that resembled style. His clothing was of a better cut, and he did not risk a confrontation with Japan's strict firearms laws. He carried a _tanto_ instead, a dagger in the style of ancient samurai weapons. The knife had already tasted blood once that night, and it thirsted for more.

In the back of the car sat the third man. He was slight, slim, and middle-aged, his jet-black hair shot through with gray. His face was set and cold, the face of a rational machine. His name was Kyo Hironaga, a senior lieutenant of the Hironaga-gumi and nephew of the clan's _oyabun_, Tedashi Hironaga. Kyo was known in the Tokyo underworld. He was cold and hard inside. There was none of the thug's bloodlust or the bully's greed in him, but neither was there compassion nor mercy. He was heartless, utterly and completely without remorse. It made him capable of things that even men like his followers would shirk.

Hironaga spoke quickly and rapidly into a cell phone, then stopped and listened to the man at the other end.

"Thank you," he said, concluding the conversation. "We appreciate your loyalty."

He disconnected, closed the phone, and put it away.

"We have a likely address for the Fire Ronin. Proceed with all haste."

"Yes, Hironaga-san."

Hironaga folded his hands in his lap. Soon the missing records would be back in his possession. The life of one half-Chinese girl was nothing compared to that.


	3. Chapter 3

The Fire Ronin made their base in an abandoned manufacturing facility in a shadowy corner of an industrial area. The factory had been left barren by its owner, a Japanese corporation that had closed its Tokyo production for the lure of cheap labor in Vietnam. In a way, it was appropriate for its new occupants. The gang was made up of the have-nots, kids whom Tokyo society had left behind, just as the factory had been unable to keep up with today's Japan.

Ken glanced at his watch and grunted, then tossed back the last of his beer.

"Enough waiting," he said. "It's time to go."

"Where to?" Shun asked.

The gang leader snorted.

"Clever, aren't you?" He pitched the empty can into a corner, where it rattled off the concrete floor. "You'd just love to see who I'm meeting with, wouldn't you? Maybe you figure you'd be big man around here if you could."

"Ey," Hiro called blearily. "I'm on a roll here. Can't you two save it for some other time?" He, Eiji, and Misato were sitting in a circle; cards and money scattered between them as they killed time.

"You're going to meet Igarashi-sama alone, then?" Shun asked the gang boss.

"Uh-uh." He shook his head. "She goes with me."

Ken's finger stabbed out, pointing to where Emiko stood apart from the others. They way her arms were folded across her chest might have been defiance, but it looked more like she was holding herself together.

"Emi-chan? Ahh, I see. Igarashi-sama wants to verify the origin of the papers before he pays five hundred thousand yen for them."

"Right." Ken sounded a bit nettled, unhappy that Shun had thought of the reason without being told, while he himself had had to be instructed by the yakuza to bring her. "Hey, Emi-chan!"

Emiko turned around, her face somber.

"We're going. C'mon."

"All right."

She followed Ken over to his bike, a big American-made road hog with plenty of room for two, and swung up behind him, wrapping her arms around his powerful torso and pressing herself against his broad back. She should have been exhilarated, riding off to her first deal as one of the Fire Ronin, making a name for herself on the dark edges of society. Instead, all she felt was a dull sense of loss. All her fire was ashes.

-X X X-

The Toyota had just turned the corner at the approach to the factory when the motorcycle emerged from the loading dock, spotlighted in the headlights for an instant. The driver began to slow, to approach the factory.

"No," ordered Kyo Hironaga. "Follow the motorcycle. They will be the ones we want."

-X X X-

Seishiro's car pulled up to the curb outside the factory. Subaru had hated to impose on his friend, but with the girl's life at stake he felt that he had to ask. As always, Seishiro had not resisted the request, but had brushed aside all of Subaru's attempts to apologize for his presumption. The veterinarian had then proceeded to navigate Tokyo's twisted streets to find the address Kono had provided with all the ease of a seasoned taxi driver. It was no small feat, and one that impressed Subaru every time he saw it. Even more impressive, he had managed to do it one-handed part of the way, when he took Detective Kono's call providing Subaru with the name of Meiling's employers, the Hironaga-gumi.

"Would you like me to go in with you?" the older man offered.

"I couldn't put you to any more trouble, Seishiro-san. This is my responsibility."

"Very well, Subaru-kun, but I will be right here if you need me." He flashed the boy a dazzling smile.

"Seishiro-san...thank you."

Subaru squared his shoulders and headed for the factory's main door. A gust of wind made the tails of his coat flap and threatened to blow off his hat. He turned the doorknob, found the door unlocked, and went inside.

"Hello!" he called. "Emiko-san! Hello!"

Subaru walked through the lobby, down a short corridor past the management offices, and pushed open the double doors that led out onto the main factory floor.

"Is anyone there?" he called again.

This time, he got an answer.

"Yeah, we're here."

There were four of them, of varying ages, coming towards him in an arc.

"What I want to know is, who do you think you are?" said one, a handsome young man a couple of years older than Subaru.

"Pretty, isn't he?" commented the only female of the group, a girl with short, spiked hair.

"My name is Subaru Sumeragi," the young onmyouji replied. He saw that the gang members were armed, but that was unimportant. Helping Emiko was his only goal. "I've come to help Emiko-san if I can. She's in very serious trouble."

One of the other boys smiled derisively.

"So what business is it of yours? Emi-chan sure as hell didn't mention any pretty boyfriend."

"Her mother, Meiling-san, asked me to help. Emiko-san doesn't know how much trouble she's in!"

The handsome boy who had first spoken sneered.

"Emi-chan's mother? Those two despise each other. She's never cared for Emi-chan before, so why start now?"

Subaru hung his head.

"Meiling-san knew that she made mistakes," he said softly, then lifted his gaze again. "But! She really does love her daughter and wants to keep her safe."

One of the gang members chortled, but the handsome one, who appeared to be the leader, held up his hand for silence.

"Hold it, Hiro."

"C'mon, Shun--"

"I said wait." His voice had the tone of authority in it, and Hiro lapsed into sullen silence. "Explain yourself, Sumeragi. Who does Emi-chan have to be afraid of?"

"The Hironaga-gumi, the yakuza clan whom Meiling-san worked for." Subaru suspected that the gang knew this already, since Emiko had stolen the papers and Detective Kono had suggested that the Fire Ronin had ties to a rival clan.

"_Worked_ for?" Shun asked.

"Meiling-san was murdered this evening," Subaru replied quietly. "The Hironaga-gumi learned what they needed to know from her. That is why they're after Emiko-san now."

"Then how is it that you are doing a favor for a dead woman?" Shun's mind was quick; he'd followed Subaru's use of the present and past tenses throughout the conversation.

Subaru didn't consider lying or an evasive explanation.

"I am an onmyouji," he said simply. "Her spirit approached me."

"More likely," said Shun, "this is a Hironaga trick."

The four of them produced knives, chains, lengths of pipe, spreading out into a half-circle. Subaru moved quickly, pulling an _ofuda_, a charm inscribed with spells, from an inner coat pocket and hurled it at the youths. Glowing a brilliant white, the ofuda transformed itself into the shape of a gleaming dove. The bird-form dove and swirled around the four, not striking them but merely harassing, preventing them from making a concerted attack on its summoner. After a few moments, it faded, becoming once again a slip of paper that drifted lazily to the ground.

To Subaru's surprise, Shun laughed.

"All right, so maybe you _are_ what you say, Sumeragi. I don't see how you're going to do anything now, though. Ken's taken Emi-chan with him to meet his contact, and he never tells us where in case we were to get the bright idea that we could do better without him." _Which, of course, we could_ was the unspoken implication.

"Shun, why are you telling him this?" the girl asked.

"If the Hironaga-gumi are really after Emi-chan, do you think we stand a chance against them?"

Fear crept across the faces of the other three Fire Ronin, although they tried to hide it. They hadn't thought of this before, that they would have to face the Hironaga. Would their own yakuza friends help? It was unlikely, not if the gang didn't have anything of value. They were errand-runners only, not part of the clan. They did not belong and therefore there was no obligation to protect them. The gang didn't belong anywhere, to anyone, which was why they had tried so hard to earn a place in the yakuza sphere.

"Of course not," Shun answered his own question. "However, if Sumeragi-kun, here, can do anything to help out Emi-chan, it might also get _us_ off the hook. It's worth a chance, right?"

"B-but you're telling an outsider about Ken's business," the youngest boy said.

"So?"

There wasn't really an answer to that.

"Unfortunately," Shun told Subaru, "we don't know where they've gone. Fact is, magic man, you've got just as good an idea as we do where to look."

Subaru's heart sank. They could be anywhere in Tokyo, and the yakuza hunting Emiko knew the city's shadows much better than he did. He racked his brain; there had to be something he could still do for her, something he could do for Meiling.

"Is there something of Emiko-san's here?" he asked. There was a link between a person's spirit and the objects they owned, especially when there was a strong emotional association involved. This was a principle Subaru used often when summoning or exorcizing ghosts, but he had yet to apply it to the living.

"Yeah, she's got a bag," Shun said. "I think she left it over this way."

He took Subaru back into the depths of the factory, through strange, shadowy "corridors" formed by machines too expensive to remove and twisting pipes built as part of the structure.

"There it is," the ganger pointed. "She kind of staked out that corner for herself."

A bedroll was stretched out on the hard floor at the juncture of two interior walls, a denim shoulder bag next to it. Subaru knelt down and unzipped the bag. Inside he found clothing, a plastic bag containing a toothbrush and other toiletries, and a few pieces of jewelry. A small photograph in a cheap plastic frame showed Shun and a girl Subaru assumed to be Emiko clowning around at an amusement park. Under the photo, there was a cherry-red stuffed teddy bear with white ears. Glancing back at the picture, Subaru saw that Emiko was holding the same bear.

"I won that for her," Shun said quietly, "at one of those booths where you try to knock bottles over with a baseball."

Subaru looked up at the gang member in surprise.

"You care for her, don't you?"

Shun nodded.

"I do," he said simply. "She's a nice kid, and she deserves better than this."

Subaru took the stuffed animal and set it in a patch of concrete away from obstructions, then used one of Emiko's lipsticks to sketch a magic circle on the floor around it. It was a trick of Hokuto's, actually, and a good one in a situation like this. The onmyouji folded his hands and steepled his thumbs and index fingers, then began to chant.

The tone of Subaru's spells was harder and sharper than his normal speaking voice. Rather than his usual gentleness, there were the harsh tones of command as he compelled obedience from the mystical force his spell gathered. This was an entirely new, untried use of power, and more than once he felt it slipping away from him, but Subaru commanded the magic to bend to his will. As a person, the head of the Sumeragi clan might be young, shy, and vulnerable, but as a magician he was among the most skilled in all Japan.

He felt the pressure building in the air around him, and the presence of a fragile, delicate spirit. Like a glass figurine it was hard and defiant but also brittle, capable of shattering to pieces. Against his will, visions flooded Subaru's mind, visions of being teased and picked on, of a boy walking smugly out of the door without a word, leaving her lying on a motel bed. Visions of a girl reaching out to her mother, a mother who was always too busy with something else to listen to what troubled her child or just to offer a comforting hug. A feeling of loss so strong it felt like it might be hate, but wasn't. That impression was only defiance in the face of pain.

Everyone's pain was different, and everyone's suffering their own. Nonetheless, Subaru felt his heart ache for the half-Chinese girl. He couldn't _allow_ himself to get lost in sympathy then, though. Summoning all his will, he fought his way through the flood of memories until he reached a vision that was no memory, one of lapping waves and the low cries of boat horns.

_There!_

Subaru ceased his chanting, and once again conjured forth the birds of white light before he lost the mental impression of the vision. The command he gave to them was little more than, "Lead me there."

"You've found her!" Shun exclaimed.

"Yes, it worked," Subaru replied with a smile, though worry about Emiko quickly drove it from his face.

"Good; let's get going."

"What?"

"Don't argue, Sumeragi-kun. You're not leaving me behind unless it's by force, and I don't think you want to spend the time or the power to do that, do you?"

Subaru blinked in surprise.

"Come on, magic man. If Emi-chan is in trouble, you know I'm not going to stand by and just wait. I'm going to help."

"All right. We need to hurry!"

They went back to the front of the factory.

"I'm going with Sumeragi-kun to help out Emi-chan," Shun announced to the others.

"What?" the girl exclaimed. "Ken's going to kill you if you horn in on his deal with the Igarashi-gumi, Shun."

"I just hope we'll get there in time for him to get the chance. The Hironaga-gumi aren't likely to be too nice to him, either."

Seishiro was still politely waiting outside.

"Who's this, Subaru-kun? Do I have a rival?" he teased.

"Shun-san is going to help rescue Emiko-san."

The glowing birds swirled in the air, waiting for Subaru to loose them on the hunt.

"Seishiro-san, I know I have no right to ask this of you, but will you drive us there? Emiko-san is in danger, and we need to reach her quickly."

"Of course, Subaru-kun. You don't ever need to ask."

"You could be hurt because of me."

Seishiro gripped Subaru's chin lightly, tipping the boy's head up so that Subaru's eyes met a smolderingly intense look.

"I will do whatever is needed to help keep you safe, Subaru-kun." He said it with such absolute and total conviction that Subaru's mind reeled.

"Seishiro-san..."

The older man's brilliant, good-natured smile returned in an instant.

"Let's get going, Subaru-kun. Those birds of yours look like they're getting impatient with me!"


	4. Chapter 4

The long pier jutting out into Tokyo Bay was deserted now, though in a few hours it would be bustling with men supervising the loading and offloading of cargo from an Australian freighter due to arrive soon. The city's rich commercial life was based on places like this, with trade goods flowing into the country and out again at the behest of financial giants, _keiretsu_ who shaped the lives of tens of thousands of employees each day. It was, perhaps, appropriate that this was the site of a deal which, while it would not be reported in the financial press, might have repercussions as far-reaching as any corporate takeover.

Shion Igarashi was not what one would have expected of a yakuza. He had a soft build, slightly puffy face, and a rumpled suit--perhaps he was a computer programmer or a glorified file clerk, but not someone of consequence, and definitely not a power in the shadow world of the yakuza.

Appearances, of course, could be deceiving, and in this case they absolutely were so. Igarashi had a lethal mind, both quick and ruthless. Some described him as brilliant. These were not far wrong. He combined an accountant's command of figures with a shark's instinct for an enemy's weakness. Beyond this, he had a positive genius for trivia, for noticing the little things that somehow, years later, would surface and pay dividends. Things like an inconsequential street gang which he'd nonetheless kept on the string and which now were going to reward him beyond all expectation.

The two bodyguards flanking him and the driver of his car were more usual characters, wearing dark glasses and suits to project an air of controlled menace.

"So, this is the girl?" Igarashi asked as Ken brought Emiko forward.

"That's right. Her old lady was the--"

"Let her speak for herself," the yakuza said, cutting off the gang leader ruthlessly. Politeness, Igarashi had learned, was viewed as weakness by a certain class of thug, who believed it meant that one was cowed by their supposed strength and power. Thus, although he found it distasteful, Shion stooped to a level Ken understood. He turned to Emiko. "Tell me what happened."

"I got sick of living at home," she said with more courage than she felt. "So, I left." The knapsack containing the papers and computer disks she'd taken swung lightly in her hand.

"What are the documents you offer us?"

"My mother was an accountant for the Hironaga-gumi, Igarashi-sama. Since I was going to leave anyway, my boyfriend thought I could at least take something that I could use. Heck, she owes me that much just for bringing me into this filthy world." She held up the pack. "I took papers, ledgers, computer disks--anything that looked important. I wanted to make sure I'd get everything the Fire Ronin needed."

Igarashi looked at her curiously.

"You seem quite concerned with the well-being of this gang."

"They're the only family I've got now," she said ingenuously.

"You spoke of your boyfriend. Is Ken, here, that boyfriend?"

Emiko shook her head.

"No way! My guy is Shun."

"Ah, yes, Shun Ishida. I know of him." The way he said it made Ken's expression darken. No surprise there, Emiko thought. She might be new to the Fire Ronin, but the rivalry between the two was obvious. Shun never really pushed the point; he just watched and waited--which made Ken push things all the harder, trying to show that he deserved to be the leader. Ironically, this often landed him in trouble he could have avoided if he hadn't been so concerned about saving face and looking like a big shot. Maybe that was Shun's idea, to let Ken run himself onto the rocks.

Igarashi nodded at one of his bodyguards, who held up a leather briefcase and flipped the locks to display stacks of notes.

"As we agreed, your payment. Five hundred thousand yen." He glanced at the other bodyguard, who extended his hand towards Emiko.

She was about to hand the backpack over when an icy voice interrupted.

"Pardon me, but you have something that belongs to us."

-X X X-

"This is all my fault!" Shun exclaimed, pounding his fist against the door. Seishiro's driving didn't seem to bother him, amazingly, as the veterinarian sent the car hurtling through turns and over curbs, following the trail Subaru pointed out with a recklessness that seemed wholly at odds with his reserved exterior. Subaru, for his part, was too caught up in reaching Emiko in time to save her life to notice traffic violations.

"Why is that?" Seishiro asked, deftly passing between two cars that happened to be at the outer edges of adjacent lanes.

"I put Emi-chan up to it. When she told me what her mother did, I figured right away how getting our hands on those records would get us in with the Igarashi-gumi. We'd be somebody, not just a bunch of kids playing at being tough but the real thing. I didn't even have to push hard. Emi-chan was talking about running away from home all the time, so it was easy to convince her to go for it."

"So, you encouraged her to leave her home and steal from her mother for the sake of your own ambition?" Seishiro said it conversationally, not in an accusatory tone of voice, which somehow made it feel even worse.

"I figured she'd be happy with me, done fighting the system and just dropping out of it. She's just like the rest of us, after all. Emi-chan doesn't fit into the neat little mold our society wants everyone to match, so why should she play that game? Only..." His voice grew low and resigned. "I didn't know her mother really cared. I didn't know Emi-chan had someone else to love her. Now her mother's _dead_ and it's all my fault."

"No, it's not!" Subaru protested at once. "You didn't make the yakuza commit murder! That's their crime, not yours!"

Shun smiled, wryly as always but with more bitterness than he usually showed.

"No? Well, I may not have shot or stabbed her or whatever it was, but I did start the chain of events. Emi-chan wouldn't have thought about taking the papers if it wasn't for me. Even if she'd run away on her own, without her taking those records her mother wouldn't have been murdered."

"Which way now, Subaru-kun?" Seishiro asked.

"That way!" Subaru pointed.

"Towards the waterfront, then," the older man mused calmly as he took a right-angle turn at sixty kilometers an hour.

-X X X-

The yakuza faced each other, Igarashi and his two soldiers confronting Hironaga and his own _kobun_. None of them had drawn a weapon as yet. They were, after all, professionals, used to settling matters in a businesslike way, even when that business extended to violence.

"Those documents," the leader of the newcomers stated, "are the private property of the Hironaga-gumi. I request that they be returned at once."

Shion smiled.

"Come now. I doubt you have much of a claim on them at this point, considering that you murdered the woman whom you entrusted them to."

Emiko gasped.

"Mother...murdered?"

No one paid her the slightest bit of attention, instead reserving their awareness for each other.

"She was a traitor. She knew that her daughter had taken them, and did not tell us until we resorted to force. We should never have trusted an honorless Chinese."

"That's not true!" Emiko screamed. She wasn't quite sure where the emotion was coming from. "She was just--" Her protest died away as she realized what she was saying. "She was just...protecting her daughter," she finished in a whisper.

Hironaga looked at her, eyes narrowing momentarily.

"Parent, child, these are nothing. Her loyalty must to be us above all, or she is nothing. Those records belong to us." He fixed his gaze on Emiko. "Give them to me."

"I don't think so," Igarashi said.

Hironaga didn't even need to nod or gesture. One of his men pulled out an automatic pistol, and a second reached for a short dagger. Igarashi's own soldiers produced weapons as well, snub-nosed revolvers. The whine of boat whistles drifted across the water. Emiko glanced at Ken, but he stood there helplessly, all too aware that he was in way over his head.

The two yakuza locked eyes. They both knew what would come next.

Then, a half-dozen brilliant white birds spun among them, diving and darting, shrieking angrily. A gun was fired without effect, then knocked from its owner's hand. The gangsters ducked and cowered away from the spirit-birds, their control of the situation completely destroyed.

"Emi-chan!"

From the shadows of the adjoining warehouse, Shun ran out onto the pier.

"Shun?" she exclaimed, confused but elated by his presence.

"What are you doing here?" Ken snapped, stepping forward to meet his lieutenant.

Shun didn't bother with threats or bluster. He just leveled Ken with a hard right that sent the bigger boy stumbling back over the edge of the pier. Luckily, it was high tide.

"Emi-chan, are you all right?"

"No, oh no...Shun, they killed Mom!" She clutched at his coat. "She wanted to protect me, so they killed her!"

"I know," she said, wrapping an arm around her. "Subaru told me what happened. _He_ said it's not my fault, but...Heaven, Emi-chan, we've made such a mess of things."

"Subaru?"

Shun pointed to where the young onmyouji had walked out into the circle of men. His coat fluttered around his ankles as the wind blew the six ofuda back to the pier or into the water. Subaru's face was intense, even angry, and despite his youth he looked like some kind of avenging angel.

"I can't believe this! Isn't Meiling-san's life enough for you? Now you're going to kill again?"

The Hironaga soldier with the _tanto_ made the mistake of challenging him. Picking up his dagger from where he'd dropped it, he charged at Subaru. Raising his hands, Subaru chanted a few quick words and the gangster rebounded away as if he had run headalong into a wall.

He didn't see the Igarashi thug raising his gun to shoot, so he also didn't see Seishiro seem to melt out of the shadows. His fingers closed around the gangster's wrist and twisted, disarming the thug with negligent strength.

"Who are you?" Kyo Hironaga asked. "Why are you interfering in our affairs?"

"My name is Subaru Sumeragi." There was a hiss of indrawn breath. Igarashi, at least, recognized the name. "I am here on behalf of Meiling-san. She gave her life to protect Emiko-san, and I have accepted that responsibility."

There were tears in his eyes. No one moved or spoke as Subaru walked through the gangsters to Shun and Emiko.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"We will be," Shun answered for them, "but not for some time, I think."

"Oh, Mom," Emiko wept.

"She loved you very much, Emiko-san. She wanted you to know that. Meiling-san is sorry that she made mistakes, and knows that what happened isn't your fault."

"I'm glad she doesn't blame me," the girl said, "but it is my fault. I wanted to belong."

They all had, Subaru realized. Meiling, Emiko, Shun, the other Fire Ronin, even the yakuza. Each of them had wanted to be a part of something bigger, something more that what they were when they stood alone.

"It's a mistake we won't make again," Shun said. "We're going to live for ourselves now."

Gently, he took the backpack from Emiko and unzipped it.

"I did love her," Emiko told Subaru. "If...if there was some way to let her know that..."

"Don't worry, Emiko-san. She knows."

Shun took the records out of the backpack.

Hironaga and Igarashi both took a half-step forward, mouths open to protest, but the scent of cherry blossoms filled their minds.

"_Forget_," Seishiro whispered softly.

Shun's arm swung out. Ledgers and disks splashed into the water at once, but the sea breeze scattered the loose papers, sending them into the air in a cloud, to slowly drift down, like a flock of white seabirds diving for fish.

Then, they too were gone.


End file.
